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International stars' call of duty

Seb Larsson, John O’Shea and Steven Fletcher lead a string of Sunderland stars off representing their countries this week.

Larsson will be looking forward to coming up against some of the world’s elite, including Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero, as his native Sweden host Argentina in an international friendly in Solna.

O’Shea is joined by James McClean and Keiren Westwood in Dublin as the Republic of Ireland host Poland in a friendly at the Aviva Stadium on Wednesday.

Fletcher is joined by Phil Bardsley as Scotland host Estonia at Pittodrie in Gordon Strachan’s first match since being appointed as Scotland manager.

David Vaughan has been included in Chris Coleman’s Wales squad for their friendly against Austria at Swansea City’s Liberty Stadium.

Elsewhere Simon Mignolet, Stephane Sessegnon and Ahmed Elmohamady are all representing their respective countries in friendlies.

Meanwhile, Connor Wickham and Jordan Pickford will both represent England at youth level on Tuesday with Wickham’s Under-21’s taking on Sweden at Walsall’s Banks Stadium and Pickford’s Under-19’s hosting Denmark in Doncaster.